decreet 031 juni 20101121
decreet 031 juni 20101131
QUIET MONTHS AT HOME, WORKING OFF HIS BURNOUT. HE STARTED WRITING ON THE ART
HISTORICAL RELEVANCE OF THE CLOUD CHAMBER, THAT HIS STUDIO HAD BECOME. HE DID
AN OPENING SPEECH AT THE MIDDELBURG DRAWING ACADEMY IN 2006. IT LASTED ONLY FIVE
MINUTES. THEN HE REWORKED THE ORIGINAL PIECE INTO A TREATISE ON THE
GERMAN/DUTCH WORD FOR ART: KUNST. I WITNESSED THE PERFORMANCE OF THIS EXTENDED
CLOUD PIECE IN A MIDDELBURG BOOKSHOP, WHICH LASTED FOR TWO HOURS. ALTHOUGH IT
WAS INTERESTING, AFTER HALF AN HOUR I STARTED TO LOOK AROUND AND NOTICED PEOPLE
WERE FALLING ASLEEP. AFTER A BREAK, HALF OF THE CROWD HAD LEFT. BUT SPIT FELT
THEDUTCH AUDIENCE JUSTWASNT READY FORHIM. SO TWO TRANSLATORS PRODUCED
A GERMAN VERSION, THAT WAS SENT TO MAISENBACHER FOR PUBLICATION. BUT
MAISENBACHER, WHO HAD SOLD CLOUDS FOR EIGHT YEARS, DID NOT UNDERSTAND THE
TREATISE. SO THE PROJECT WAS ABANDONED.
SLOWLY SPIT RECOVERED FROM HIS BURNOUT. FIE APPLIED FOR A NEW JOB AS AN ART
TEACHER AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN MIDDELBURG AND WAS ACCEPTED. IN THE HALL OF TFIE
SCHOOL HE CONTINUED THE TRADITION OF THE STREET GALLERY, WFIERE LOCAL ARTISTS
COULD SHOW SMALLER WORK SIX OR SEVEN TIMES A YEAR. THEN ONE DAY, IN THE FALL OF
2007 SPIT SUDDENLY WAS BACK IN THE STUDIO. HE REARRANGED THE FURNITURE. THEN HE
STARTED TO FILL ONE WHOLE WALL WITH SOME HUNDRED PICTURES OF FAMOUS PAINTINGS.
FROM THE EARLY RENAISSANCE UP TO ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM. I WAS SURPRIZED. WHAT
HAPPENED? I WILL CHANGE MY STYLE OF PAINTING AGAIN', SPIT SAID,I DID MY LAST
SERIES OF HARD EDGE CLOUD PAINTINGS. NOW THE HOLY MOMENT OF IMMOBILITY HAS
ARRIVED. DOING NOTHING AND JUST LOOKING. THAT IS THE FUNCTION OF VISUAL ART. WHAT
HAVE I DONE, WORKING LIKE HELL? PRETTY SOON THE HUNDREDS OF CLOUD PAINTINGS
WILL BE COMING BACK TO THE STUDIO. ANOTHER CRISIS ON TFIE ART MARKET IS RAPIDLY
CLOSING IN. ITS NOT LIKE THE INFLATORY CRISIS BACK IN THE EARLY 90S. WE WILL HAVE
ANOTHER RECESSION AND MAYBE EVEN A DEPRESSION, GOD ONLY KNOWS. SO I WILL GO BACK
TO THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE THEORY ON PAINTING. I WILL START PAINTING NUDES IN
A LANDSCAPE OF CLOUDS. THE LANDSCAPE IS AN IMAGE OF DIVINE CREATION. EVEN
RELEVATION. REPRESENTATION OF THE LANDSCAPE BRINGS THE PAINTER CLOSER TO GOD. THAT TO ME IS FAME. SO I STARTED TO SCAN IMAGES OF PAINTINGS
THAT I HAVE COLLECTED FOR YEARS. STARTING WITH GIOTTO, BEGINNING OF THE 14TH CENTURY. ONLY THE LANDSCAPE AND THE HEAVENS ABOVE. FORGET THE
CLOUDS FOR A MOMENT. ONLY THESE SMALL CAULIFLOWER KIND OF FORMS, LITTLE BONZAI LIKE TREES. THE BYZANTINE STYLE WITH LOTS OF LITTLE ANGELS.
I WILL STARTTO TAKE THE FLYING LITTLE ANGELS OF GIOTTO AND PUT THEM ON CLOUDS OF MY OWN, WHERE THEY BELONG. THEN I WILL TAKE THE VENUS OF
URBINO (1534) BVTITIAN AND PUT FIER OUTSIDE IN OPEN AIR IN THE LANDSCAPE AT WIJK BIJ DUURSTEDE, PAINTED BY RUYSDAEL. WHO IS THIS VENUS OF URBINO
ANYWAY? IGOOGLED HER NAME. IT IS LADY BATTISTA SFORZA, DUCHESS OF URBINO. THE RECLINUNG NUDE WAS A COMMISION FROM HER HUSBAND, THE DUKE
OF URBINO, WHO WANTED AN INCORPORATION OF THE IDEAL WOMAN. THE BEST PAINTED NUDE OF THE TIME. WITH CLEAR FLESH. NOW COMPARE THE RECLINING
VENUS BY TITIAN TO THAT OF HIS TEACHER GIORGIONE, WHO WAS FROM THE SAME GENERATION OF DA VINCI, MICHEL ANGELO, RAFAEL AND TITIAN HIMSELF.
THE LANDSCAPE IN THE BACKGROUND OF GIORGIONE'S RECLINING VENUS WAS DONE BY TITIAN, BECAUSE HIS TEACHER DIED, BEFORE HE COULD FINISH THE
PAINTING. BUT TITIAN USED THE SAME BACKGROUND IN OTHER PAINTINGS. I AM GOING TO DO THE SAME THING. PAINT THE SAME RECLINING NUDE THREE
DIFFERENT TIMES. WHY? BECAUSE OF THE MOOD. THE ATMOSPHERE. TFIE NUDES BY TITIAN AND GIORGIONE LOOK VERY MUCH ALIKE. LOOK AT THE POSITIONS OF
THE HANDS. IT IS LIKE A SLEEPING BEAUTY, SILENTLY WAITING. PURE SOUL WITH HER EYES CLOSED. THAT IS GIORGIONE. BUT NOW LOOK AGAIN AT THE A NUDE
BY TITIAN. SHE IS NAKED TOO, BUT HER EYES ARE WIDE OPEN. I WILL TAKE YET ANOTHER VENUS, THE VENUS OF MILO, SEEN ON HER BACK, AND PUT THAT IN
ANOTHER PAINTING BY RUYSDAEL, THE VIEW ON THE BLEACHING FIELDS NEAR HAARLEM. ITS ALL JUST TO DEVELOP THE TECHNIQUE OF THE OIL PAINTING.
RETOUCH, DUST. LIQUID FOR PRODUCING FLOWING, TRANSPARENT MATERIAL SENSATION."
I LOOKED AT SPIT WITH AMAZEMENT. HE HAD RECOVERED WELL. BACK IN SHAPE. BACK IN BUSINESS. AS I GLANCED OVER THE PICTURES OF PAINTINGS BY
BOTTICELLI LA PRIMAVERA, BIRTH OF VENUS), DUVAL BIRTH OF VENUS), COURBET ORIGINE DU MONDE, WOMEN IN WAVES), INGRES RISING VENUS, THE WELL),
MANTEGNA SEBASTIAN) AND CORREGIO JUPITER AND 10), I REALIZED SPIT WAS SERIOUS. AND HAD A LONG WAY TO GO YET. THE NEW SPIRIT IN RENAISSANCE
PAINTING HAD BEEN REVIVED AS A ROMANTIC REVOLT IN TFIE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY AGAINST RATIONALISM, THAT HAD DOMINATED EUROPEAN ELITE
CULTURE DURING THE NAPOLEONIC WARS. RATIONALISM WAS RESPONSABLEFORTHE MASSIVE EXPLOITATION, EXECUTION AND SLAUGHTER OF RELIGIOUS,
SEXUAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES ALL IN THE NAME OF POLITICAL PROGRESS AND ECONOMIC NECESSITY. THE REVOLUTIONARY POTENTIAL OF THE ROMANTIC
REVOLT, THAT SEBASTIAAN SPIT SEEMED TO EMBRACE, RESIDED IN THE REJECTION OF ALL PREVIOUS ART THAT HAD COLLABORATED IN THE DESTRUCTION
OF HUMANITY AND ITS ECOLOGICAL RESOURCES. INSTEAD PAINTING SHOULD HAVE NO OTHER FORMAL MEANING THEN THE REPRESENTATION OF PURE
BEAUTY. THIS PRINCIPLE, DUBBED "L'ART POUR L'ART" BY THE FRENCH CRITICAL AND POET BAUDELAIRE IN LES FLEURS DU MAL/FLOWERS OF EVIL IN THE
1840'S, WAS EXACTLY THE MANIFESTO THAT GAVE RISE TO THE INNOVATIVE TREND OF IMPRESSIONISM TWENTY YEARS LATER, OF WHICH EDOUARD MANET'S
RECLINING NUDE "OLYMPIA" (1865) WAS THE FIRST PROVOCATIVE EXPRESSION. DID SEBASTIAAN WANT TO GO THE SAME WAY SCHOLTE DID IN THE 80S?
SPIT LAUGHED. "LETS HAVE A DRINK,FIE SAID AND PULLED OUT A BOTTLE OF RED WINE
FROM A DRAWER. HE OPENED IT AND HELD UP THE CORK. "LOOK AT THE CORK. ART IS THE
CORK ON WHICH WE ALL FLOAT. WITHOUT ART, LIFE IS MEANINGLESS. NOW TO ANSWER
YOUR QUESTION, AS TO ME GOING THE SAME WAY SCHOLTE DID. I DON'T THINK SO. LAST
SUMMER AT ART BODENSEE, MAISENBACHER PUT THE THREE ARTISTS FROM HIS STABLE IN
A HOTEL.
I WAS THERE, TOGETHER WITH OTMARHOERL AND SVEN HOFFMAN. WE WERE TO FORM
ANOTHER NEW ARTIST GROUP. OUR TOPIC WAS LANDMINES. I WOULD PAINT INNOCENT
LANDSCAPES IN THE STYLE OF WATTEAU. HOFFMANN WOULD MAKE PHOTOGRAPHS OF
PARTS OF WEAPONS. HOERL WOULD DO A LANDMINE MULTIPLE. WHY? BECAUSE ONE MORE
TIME WE WILL SHOW WITH THE GALLERY ON THE AMSTERDAM ART FAIR. WE'LL DO A BOOK
ON LANDMINES, THE BLACK ANGELS OF DEATH. THE WHOLE GALLERY INSTALLATION IS FOR
SALE FOR30.000 EURO'S. THEN THERE WILL BE 207 LANDMINES TO BE SOLD INDIVIDUALLY.
UNSIGNED 20 EURO. SIGNED 50 EURO. THE MONEY WE GET FROM THE SALES GOES TO WAR
CHILD. LIFE ON THIS EARTH IS LIMITED BY 106.000.000 LANDMINES. I HOPE YOU WILL BE
THERE. I 'M SURE ROB SCHOLTE WILL COME WHEN HE HEARS ABOUT THIS PROJECT. ITS TIME
FOR YOU TO BE FRIENDS AGAIN. CHEERS, AMIGO." AND WE LIFTED OUR GLASSES.
LIST OF REPRODUCTIONS see colour quire
ORIGIN OF THE WORLD, OIL ON CANVAS, 60 X 80 CM, 2008
BOCA PRINS, OIL ON CANVAS, 100 X 80 CM, 1985
CLOUD, OIL ON CANVAS, 80 X 80 CM, 2008
CLOUDHOLE, OIL ON CANVAS, 60 X 40 CM, 2008
•JUPITER 10, OIL ON CANVAS, 170 X 90 CM, 2008
BAUHAUS WALLPAPER SAMPLE, OIL ON CANVAS, 60 X 90 CM, 2008
VENUS IN CLOUDS, OIL ON CANVAS, 90 X 90 CM, 2008
VENUS FROM URBINO AT WIJK BIJ DUURSTEDE'S MILL, OIL ON Canvas, 130 x 130 CM, 2010
GIOTTO'S ANGELS IN THE CLOUDS, OIL ON CANVAS, 35 X170 CM, 2009
•CLOUDS OVER SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE FOUNDATION BY MASSOLINO, OIL ON CANVAS, 35 X 170 CM, 2009
MILO'S VENUS LOOKING OVER HAARLEM'S BLEACH FIELDS, OIL ON CANVAS, 130 X130 CM, 2010
•ORNAMENT ONE, OIL ON CANVAS, 30 X 80 CM, 2009
ORNAMENT TWO, OIL ON CANVAS, 60 X 80 CM, 2009
•ONAMENT THREE, OIL ON CANVAS, 60 X 80 CM, 2009
ORNAMENT FOUR, OIL ON CANVAS, 60 X 80 CM, 2009
BOTTICELLI'S VENUS AT FLUSHING, OIL ON CANVAS, 170 X 90 CM, 2010
INGRES' SPRING OVER TRANSPARENT CLOUD, OIL ON CANVAS, 170 X 60 CM, 2010
•FRAGMENT CLOUD MANIFESTO OVER GRECO'S SEBASTIAN, OIL ON CANVAS, 200 X 12,2010
INNOCENT LANDSCAPE ONE, OIL ON CANVAS, 30 X100,2007
INNOCENT LANDSCAPE TWO, OIL ON CANVAS, 30 X100,2007
INNOCENT LANDSCAPE THREE, OIL ON CANVAS, 30 X100,2007
INGRES' ANADYOMENIAN VENUS AT FLUSHING, OIL ON CANVAS, 130 X 50 CM, 2010
DEUVAL'S NEHALENNIAN VENUS, OIL ON CANVAS, 130 X 50 CM, 2010
